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Mechanical designer Makoto Kobayashi (Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ, Giant Robo, Last Exile, Space Battleship Yamato Resurrection) revealed at the closing ceremonies of Anime Expo on Sunday that he is working on a remake of Space Battleship Yamato for release next year.

Yoshinobu Nishizaki and Leiji Matsumoto's Yamato space opera anime franchise began with the first Space Battleship Yamato television series in 1974. The titular spaceship Yamato is built from the remains of the World War II battleship of the same name to protect Earth from extraterrestrial threats. Over the next 35 years, the television anime spawned two television sequels, two video projects, and six films including 2009's Space Battleship Yamato Resurrection. The anime was dubbed and partly rewritten in English as Star Blazers.

A live-action film remake of the original Space Battleship Yamato anime opened in Japan last December. There was an attempt at an American live-action film adaptation by the company BenderSpink (The Ring) in 2006, and Skydance Productions was in talks to acquire the live-action film rights earlier this year.

Update: Shoji Nishizaki, the adopted son of the late Space Battleship Yamato producer Yoshinobu Nishizaki, hinted at his late father's service last December that he has begun production on new Yamato works including a television series and another film.

I've seen that. If that had something the resembled a plot it would have been good, and the backstory seemed alright. The designs...eh, could have been better (in fact the previous model (flashback) Yamato looks nice verse the one in the show). The weaponry and effects were good (massed shock cannons that basically act like an old model Wave Motion Gun is good). And like in the Yamato Rebirth movie, the Earth Fleet was not exactly useless for the major fight scene. I did not like the big squared gun turrets of the Earth Forces and the 18th Yamato though...just didn't do it for me (the squared of barrels of the 17th Yamato worked though).

Probably what hurt most was that the plot for Yamato 2520 was to be helped by Yamato Rebirth...and that didn't happen until 2009. But I liked that movie for the most part (the music in the second half seemed off, but I think the Music Director died during production). I loved the new effect/weapons Yamato gets. Not only the new barrier missiles, but the new Wave Motion Gun would be godly in the table top game of this series. A Six Shooter Wave Motion Gun. The EDF ships also look alright (even if they are starting to trend towards Yamato 2520 designs) Blue Noah looks like a good ship, and the design lineage to the 2201 Fleet is clear in the rest of the fleet. (though it is odd that the EDF now has only battleships...there are no cruisers or destroyers anymore).

On April 7 2012, a new Yamato movie will open in Japan. The title is Space Battleship Yamato 2199. This will be a reboot instead of a sequel to the long running franchise. Like the original series, this will take place in the year 2199, and it will take the visual concepts of the original series as a base, while re-imagining it for a brand new movie.

The director of Space Battleship Yamato 2199 is Yutaka Izubuchi. He is a long time veteran in the anime industry, involved in mechanical design and costume/uniform design for many well known anime franchises in the past (including Yamato). He is also the director and creator of RahXephon, and in recent years he has expanded his talents to producing and writing shows like Birdy the Mighty Decode and Skullman.

There are currently no visuals from the movie, and the rest of the staff have not been made public.

I wonder how that is suppose to play out, give that in the last few years there have been two other Yamato movies. The sequel film set in 2220 that came out in 2009, and the Live Action movie set in 2199 that came out in 2010.

I'd be more interested if they decided to remake the series in an episodic way. The original is from 1974 and could probably use some more modern animation (though the 1983 Final Yamato still holds up in terms of Art and Animation).

I also wonder just what (if anything) they will change this time around. With it follow the Matsumoto based designs and the 1974 style, or will it follow the 2010 movie model of how things are? (the Gamilons specifically).

About the only thing they probably cannot get away with changing, is the ship. Since it is: A) and icon. B) based on a real ship. and C) famous as all hell in and outside of Japan. Even when Star Trek was remade in 2009, they kept the basic shape of the USS Enterprise and a lot of its detail, and it is not based on a real ship.

Earth Space Battleship Yamato is based on the hull of the Imperial Japanese Navy's Battleship Yamato from the Second World War. You can't actually change that (though they might update it to how she really looks...which is not all that great in two pieces...so that's a write off idea). er sister ship, Musashi, might be in better shape...but they've not located her wreckage off the Philippines.

I also wonder just what (if anything) they will change this time around. With it follow the Matsumoto based designs and the 1974 style, or will it follow the 2010 movie model of how things are? (the Gamilons specifically).

The way it is worded strongly suggests that it will not follow any new model, but instead be a revision of the original designs.

Another question would be, "What about the rest of the Rebirth films" The first one says End of Part One. The main thing being the missing Yuki (Mori) Kodai. but then the new enemy was only stopped, not defeated. Their puppets were defeated, at least in part, by the powers of Yamato's new Six-chambered Wave Motion Gun.

Dear Japan! Thank you thank you thank you thank you THANK YOU for doing this! It's nice to know you still care about guys like me.

Why I do believe we can work out our differences again and you have my formal apology for the snarkiness about not being able to do space opera without filling the cast with cutesy chicks in the Miniskirt Pirates thread.